Controversy in the Balkan Peninsula
Charlotte and Janice
Why is there so much conflict in this region?
There are many different ethnic groups with different religions (Western Christian, Eastern Orthodox, and Muslim) that don’t agree with each other.
Fall of Yugoslavia
- Tension between different ethnic groups contributed to the fall
- Josip Broz Tito, a former premium of Yugoslavia
- In March 1945, he created a “federation of socialist republics”, or a bunch of states that are under something similar to communism where the goverment controls a lot of things
- Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Montenegro, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Macedonia
- Also, due to Tito’s many reforms, major problems in Yugoslavia were left unresolved
- The 6 countries seceded from Yugoslavia, concluding the fall of Yugoslavia
Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic vs New World Order / Слободан Милошевић
The Rise of Milosevic
- First, he became a member of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia at age 18
- Then he became a full-time politician in 1984 as a protégé of Ivan Stambolić, head of the League of Communists of Serbia (LCS).
- Milošević took over as head of the local communist party organization in Belgrade that year.
- He introduced a new populist political style to Serbia. He caught the attention of the Serbians and rose in popularity.
- He then took his mentor, Stambolic, place as the head of the LCS.
- 1988: he became the president of Serbia.
- He supported the Serbs when they fought in Bosnia/Croatia and this was bad because Serbia was already suffering from trade sanctions from the 1980s
- He called back the troops three years later.
- He ordered an ethnic cleansing of Kosovo, in an effort to combine Kosovo with Serbia again.
- Many people were forced out of their homes and became refugees in other countries.
- He also had a 2nd term of presidency
How did Milosevic's reign end?
- His thirst for power led him to become president of Yugoslavia. However, this made him vulnerable to the UN’s International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) at The Hague.
- He was then charged with corruption and stealing state funds during his 13-year rule.
- He was also tried on charges of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes.
- This was because before, the Yugoslavian troops stormed Bosnia, so now they could blame someone for it since he became the president of Yugoslavia.
- He was also held responsible for any offenses against international law committed during the Kosovo conflict when he was in charge of Serbia.
What was the world’s response?
When Yugoslavia and Milosevic went to war, WW2 was going on. The rest of the world was too occupied in the world war to help out or pay much attention.
What are the current conditions in the Balkan Peninsula?
- Conditions are pretty bad, the government ruined any chances to return to back to it’s former glory before Milosevic’s reign.
- None of the countries in the Balkan Peninsula are improving economically.
- Some countries have improved, but by a small percent.
- Ex: Serbia's economy grew by 1.6%. Macedonia grew by 3%, Bosnia by 1.2% and Montenegro by 2.2%
- However, they predict that the improvement rate will fall soon though.
- The problem is: They rely too much on the euro zone.
- Ex: US Steel returned the privatised Smederevo steel plant in Serbia to the government for $1 because of a collapse in demand for its products. The Smederevo factory employs 5,400 people.
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